The operator of a high-speed rail service in Europe is hoping to connect two of the continent’s major capital cities in the near future.
Trenitalia, the state-owned railway of Italy, is hoping to connect Paris and Madrid with a target date of late 2024.
The company already operates between Paris and Lyon and Paris and Milan. It also operates between Barcelona and Madrid.
The company is also considering linking Italian cities with Madrid in the future.
“There is a plan and we are working on it,” Luigi Ferraris, CEO of the FS Italiane Group, told Ferrovie, an Italian outlet that calls itself the rail transport and rail travel portal. “Wanting to throw the heart over the obstacle, we could see this dream realized by the end of 2024.”
Trenitalia is a subsidiary of FS Italiane Group.
If approved, the train will be the first direct service between Paris and Madrid. Current service by operators requires a stop in Barcelona.
Even though the company is ready to begin the service, the approval process to cross borders takes a significant amount of time. Trenitalia’s bid to travel between Italy and France took nearly 2 years to complete.
Trenitalia’s high-speed trains travel at speeds up to 250 mph and cut down travel times by huge amounts, the company said. They are hugely popular in Europe.
One year after the launch of the Paris to Milan service, the company surpassed 1 million tickets sold, according to Quotidiano Nazionale.
